i am trying to make all of my uniforms look better so what i am doing is not taking them apart but sewing over it to make it look like all hand stiched. i was wondering though about a federal sack coat. i was going to do it all in white thread. including the breast pocket so it would show. i am not sure though this is correct to do a sack coat like this. any suggestions? thank you

frankstevanus

07-08-2006, 03:48 PM

I can't answer for "do over's" Georgia, but I make all my own stuff too, now, and I found that in my research, all the originals I have seen, the sewer (if that's a word) usually tried to match the thread to as close a color to the fabric as possible.
I think your idea is a great one, too. Makes it look "authentic" (if we can say that word on this site!). Sounds cool! You should post pics when done.
Good Luck!
Frank

cookiemom

07-08-2006, 10:00 PM

I can't answer for "do over's" Georgia, but I make all my own stuff too, now ...

I was just wondering how many on the military side of the hobby actually do construct their own clothing and/or other sewn items. Also, whether more of those would be doing Federal or Confederate impressions.

[I believe there's a lot of it on the civilian side.]

BTW --very impressive, fellas.

Carole

ElizabethClark

07-09-2006, 09:28 AM

If the fabric used in your clothing is accurate, and the patterns used were accurate, but you just need to replace a little topstitching or buttonholes, use matching threads, as the original garments most often used. If you're handstitching over polyester machined threads in poor fabric and poor patterns, you're not gaining a thing... there's a point at which such re-do efforts are wasted time, and you'd be better off starting with a more accurate fabric and pattern.

Remember, sewing was not a forgotten art mid-century; even those roughly sewn garments display some small level of skill! Just because something is handsewn does not follow that it must be rough and visible. Indeed, depending on the original sewist, the stitches can be so fine as to require a magnifying glass to count them... and all uniforms had to pass a certain level of quality before being accepted (and paid for)--if the pieceworker turned out sub-par stuff, she didn't get paid, and thus didn't eat that week.

NJ Sekela

07-09-2006, 01:01 PM

Madam:

That is good advice.

I would like to offer a footnote to the inspection process, in that some items were either reinspected or bought as condemned items and subsequently issued/supplied to Confederate Prisoners of war and "contraband" negroes. There are notations to move inventory out of New York that was "second or third" quality and used for those two applications.

I would like to offer a footnote to the inspection process, in that some items were either reinspected or bought as condemned items and subsequently issued/supplied to Confederate Prisoners of war and "contraband" negroes. There are notations to move inventory out of New York that was "second or third" quality and used for those two applications.

Interesting. Waste not, want not.

HighPrvt

07-25-2006, 04:57 PM

Here's a pic of POW's from Camp Douglas that's going around on the AC forum. It apparently shows some Confederates in what could very well be some of the sub-standard clothing that Mr. Sekela commented on.

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10434.html

John Legg

08-18-2006, 08:29 PM

i construct my own clothing, i have a SA blouse that i made this year and i am working on SA trowsers, and a civilian shirt! the thread i used was logwood dyed thread i think, which is a brown color. but i would use the closet color thread to the garment!